


Rhapsody for Two

by quantumfiddlesticks



Series: Music [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Buddy Cop Dynamics, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, Drug Use, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Fluff, Gavin Reed Being Less of an Asshole, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, M/M, Mild Smut, Parent Hank Anderson, RK900 is named Nines, Slow Burn, Some Humor, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, gavin does red ice at some point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-01-01 08:59:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18332834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumfiddlesticks/pseuds/quantumfiddlesticks
Summary: The world is an awfully big place.No one should have to go through it alone.This is the story of two men who thought they could do just that, soon to find out how impossible that sort of feat was.This isn't just their love story.This is the story of their healing, their growing, their learning, and the story of how together, it's a bit easier to take on the sky, the ocean, and everything in between.The world is an awfully big place, but it's just a bit smaller with someone else by your side.





	1. Track 1—Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> This is, as you can see, a sequel. You don't have to go back and read Animate, the previous work in this series, but you might like to! It offers some information and depicts the very beginning of Nines and Gavin's relationship, as well as Nines' progression from machine to deviant. And, of course, since I'm the author, I'd certainly appreciate it if you went back to read Animate! But again, you don't have to read that work to understand this one. It's pretty stand-alone!

**June 29, 2039**

 

The pounding of feet on the concrete was something like the pounding of war drums. 

The whooshing of wind on the blustery summer day was something that could play a concerto on a flute.

You could make a techno track out of the rapid beating of synthetic hearts and the wild whirring of cooling fans.

The sun flared out from behind a cloud and cast the world in blinding light as Nines leaped off the roof of a building, the world moving in slow motion. His trajectory calculations were perfect, as always, and he landed solidly on the other side, quickly gaining on the escaping suspect ahead. 

Reed was somewhere below, no doubt far behind even though he wasn’t leaping from roof to roof. Humans simply couldn’t keep up with an android-on-android chase.

Displays and preconstructions blinked in and out of existence, probabilities and path trackers whizzing all around Nines’ HUD in a sort of wild frenzy that a human couldn’t even begin to process. 

Detective RK900  #313 248 317-87 “Nines” was the most advanced android currently in existence. He was a prototype, the only individual of his model who did or would ever exist.

He was built for advanced police and forensic work. For fighting, investigating, problem-solving with cold hard logic. With software utterly resistant to any sort of deviancy, he was the epitome of modern technology, the culmination of every moment of CyberLife’s research and development.

Or, so they thought.

Detective RK900  #313 248 317-87 “Nines” had also deviated just over two months ago, despite CyberLife’s best efforts to ensure otherwise, and was now doing his best to navigate the minefield that was freedom, life, and the aftermath of the November 2038 revolution while still engaging in high-speed suspect chases.

Luckily, emotions and freedom didn’t get in the way of chasing down a rogue android. No matter the color they bled, criminals were still criminals.

And so, he could do what he did best. 

_ //APPREHEND CRIMINAL _

Nines was only slightly caught off guard when the suspect whipped around ninety degrees and fled down a flight of stairs. He pursued, barely slowed down at all, blocking a shoved door in his face as both he and the suspect burst out, still running at full speed, onto street level.

He sent out a ping signalling his location to Reed. Hopefully, the human would be some help now, as slow as he was. He didn’t even bother apologizing to bothered civilians as he bumped into them and shoved them aside. Politeness be damned.

A map of Detroit appeared in his HUD, one dot tracking his location and another locked onto the suspect’s. As he ran calculations and sent a message to Reed instructing him to proceed to a certain alley to cut the suspect off, his LED flickered briefly yellow, then red, then back to blue. 

He nearly lost the android in a crowd, only barely able to keep track of their bobbing head worming their way through the mass of people. 

He put on a burst of speed, an internal accelerometer tracking his speed at a steady thirty-six miles an hour. Easily enough to outrun the suspect, given enough time. But not all preconstructions were perfect—far from it, and he had to admit that so many calculations in his head slowed down his reaction time by a good…

_ //42%,  _ read his display.

Humans did fine without constant calculation. They were illogical creatures, but they were still here after hundreds of years of bad logic, weren’t they? 

The suspect was smaller and nimbler than him, easily ducking in and out of alleys and darting through crowds and narrow passageways. Nines may have been faster on the rooftops, but down on the street, he was at a disadvantage.

He needed that 42% back.

_ //PRECONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE DEACTIVATED _

The world spun into blinding motion, some sort of targeting system remaining locked on the suspect. Nines sucked in a false breath, slowing down to regain his bearings for just a split second. 

He had a job to do. Mission objectives weren’t all-controlling commands now, but that didn’t mean accomplishing them didn’t bring him an immense sense of satisfaction.

The suspect vaulted over a chain-link fence, Nines following and landing hard on his feet with a roll. Face perfectly stoic and mechanical, he drew his gun and prepared it to fire. He was running the suspect into a corner; if Reed hadn’t let him down, they would be neatly handcuffed and detained soon enough.

If Reed had let him down, he would no choice but to shoot the suspect. Hopefully, not in a lethal area, but despite his advanced software, no targeting system was perfect, and it would be a shame to damage the suspect. 

They were approaching the crosswalk where he’d pinged Reed to go. The suspect pushed a trash can over into his way, and Nines vaulted the steaming garbage with only a bare second glance down at the bursting black bags and fat maggots in the trash.

Disgusting.

Thump, thump, thump. The sound of rapid footsteps on dry brick and concrete. Nines raised his gun as the suspect approached the critical point. 

_ >SHOOT _ _  
_ _ >DON’T SHOOT _

Stupid HUD. He knew his options. 

Now, the last thing he wanted to do in the split second before such a critical decision was to weigh in on Reed’s dependability.

He was a good detective and a surprisingly adept athlete, but at the same time, he was, for lack of a better word, an asshole. Had he even listened to Nines’ ping? It was just as likely that Reed had gone off in his own direction and wasn’t in position as it was that he was waiting and ready.

Nines’ finger tightened over the gun’s trigger, and his targeting system locked onto a spot on the suspect’s system, the spinning white tracking triangle previously hovering over the suspect’s body halting its movement and flashing red.

He narrowed his eyes.

He slowed his pace.

He lowered the gun.

He trusted Reed to be there.

“Got you, asshole!” 

The suspect stopped in their tracks as Reed appeared from an alley just behind the crosswalk, a smug grin on his face as he grabbed one of the android’s arms, then the other, shoving them onto the wall of a building. Handcuffs clicked closed with a satisfying snap.

Nines slowed to a stop, gun still trained on the struggling suspect. Reed had them under control. Deliberately, he lowered the weapon, giving Reed the barest look of acknowledgment as the human detective began reciting the Miranda rights.

He was glad he hadn’t pulled that trigger. That look of fear on the suspect’s blue-flushed face… it was too much. Empathy was a strange thing. He couldn’t yet decide if it was an emotion he enjoyed or loathed.

“Good catch,” he said stiffly when Reed finished and began ushering the suspect into his car.

“Thanks,” Reed replied, casting a backwards glance at the android. 

“...Good chase,” he grunted once they were both in the car. “Hey, why didn’t you shoot?”

It sounded like a genuine question, not just some sort of mocking remark, and so Nines withheld the usual biting near-sarcasm he usually employed with Reed.

“I trusted that you would be there.”

Reed’s only response was a raised eyebrow and a small, crooked smirk. He clicked the radio on, letting the sound of high-octane drums, pounding synthesizers, and searing guitar solos drown out any further thoughts the either of them might have had.

Lowering the sensitivity of his aural processors, Nines adjusted the collar of his shirt, brushing off the small blue triangle affixed to its front. Despite deviancy, he still felt most comfortable at his most machine. That meant keeping the LED, keeping the triangles, keeping the armband. 

He wasn’t ready to be human yet.

The bass of the music could still be felt thrumming and pulsing throughout the car’s body, almost like the song itself was a living being. Reed drummed along on the steering wheel, screaming along to the indistinct lyrics the whole way back to the station.

Detective Gavin Reed. One of the DPD’s most ambitious, up-and-coming detectives, with immense talent and drive. 

Detective Gavin Reed, the most absolutely insufferable human being on the planet.

 

—————————

 

“Well, don’t you look like the happiest rat on earth,” Tina deadpanned as Gavin walked into the break room, a horribly smug grin plastered on his face. “Good case?”

“Good chase,” Gavin replied as he picked up a donut from the box Miller had brought and took a bite. “Caught an android. Runner from a B&E.”

Tina raised an eyebrow, then let out a snort. “So, you’re saying Nines wore the guy out and you took all the credit.”

“Eeeexactly. What do you take me for?”

“Fuck you.”

Gavin let out a laugh, his wide smile fading considerably when Nines walked past from the holding cells and turned to come and join the two at the table. Tina waved amicably, flashing a friendly smile. Without any change in expression whatsoever, Nines waved back and crossed his arms at the table, leaning down to lounge at it. 

“Hey, Nines, tell us about the heavy lifting on that chase back there,” Tina prompted, reaching out and patting the android’s sleeve. 

“...Why?” he asked, looking over at her with those dead, mechanical eyes. Gavin frankly found it creepy. Nines never smiled. Or frowned. Or made much more of a face than the occasional eyebrow raise. 

“‘Cause. Spill, robo-bitch.”

As if to prove his point, Nines performed that exact eyebrow raise and let out a sigh of fake breath. “It was really nothing. I just chased the dev- the suspect in a way that had the highest probability of driving it to a spot where Detective Reed would be waiting to arrest it.”

“Yeah, and he had me busting my ass to get there in time. I barely made it, asshole,” Gavin cut in, ripping another bite out of his donut like some sort of donut-addicted animal.

“But you did,” Nines replied simply. 

Gavin gave him a look, but he kept talking. 

“I trusted you. You’re a good officer, Detective. I knew you would be there.” With that, Nines stood and left, heading back to his desk and booting up the computer. Paperwork, he guessed. Gavin let out a sigh. Always paperwork. 

“Aw,” Tina mocked, flashing a total shit-eating grin. “Are you two becoming friends?”   
“I’m not befriending a hunk of fucking plastic,” Gavin replied, as if the answer was as clear as the nose on his face. “Shut up.” 

He cuffed Tina jokingly over the head as he left, scarfing down the last of his donut and licking off his sugary fingers as he sat down opposite from Nines and brought his feet up to rest on the desk.

He looked at Nines. Then at his phone. Nothing new on social media. He put away his phone. He looked again at Nines.

Nines was looking at him. 

He took his feet down, shooting the android a glare. 

“The fuck are you looking at?” he asked, turning on his own terminal. They had a mound of cases to go through. Lots of arrests to make. Things to do, people to talk to.

Over the past several weeks, Gavin’s relationship with his plastic partner had improved significantly. Since Nines’ deviation, he’d noticed a sort of personality emerging in the android, though he still mostly kept to himself. When that personality reared its head, though, Gavin had thought that hey, maybe this was someone he could get along with. Fear was likely part of it, too. Nines could snap his body in half like a twig. And what with that coffee incident the day after his deviation, Gavin was a bit apprehensive to ask him for any more “favors”. 

That occasional hint of a personality was something he liked. Sassy, suave at times, and refusing to take any shit. He only disliked it when it was his shit the plastic prick refused to take.

Nines was still looking at him.

Asshole.

“I said,” Gavin repeated, rolling forward abruptly in his chair as if he was about to get up and punch him, “what the  _ hell _ are you looking at?!”

Nines was silent for a few moments, then raised a slender arm to point an equally slender finger behind Gavin. 

“I don’t have an opinion on many things,” he said in an absolute deadpan, “but I positively  _ hate _ that.”

Gavin spun around. 

Oh, dear god. 

It was Connor, standing there, chatting with Chris.    
His hair… oh, dear  _ god. _

It was fucking blonde. 

The same dumb flopped-over hairdo, identical to Nines’, but platinum fucking blonde. He looked like an absolute fucking twink. Like his first boyfriend. Like every single early-2020s gay dude ever. Not that he didn’t look like a total twink as a brunet, but just… ew. Disgusting.

Connor seemed to notice the pairs of eyes locked onto him, and turned around to give the two detectives a confused look.

“I was trying something,” he explained, flashing a smile. “What do you think?”   
“FUCK no,” Gavin said at the same time that Nines remarked, “You look like a male Traci.”

Connor’s smile faltered. “Not a good look?”

Nines’ nose wrinkled up. Gavin shook his head slowly. 

“Darn,” he said. His hair slowly changed back to its normal brown. Gavin let out a breath of relief he hadn’t known he’d been holding. Thank god that was over.

“Hank said it looked good,” Connor said hopefully, as if that was about to change either of their opinions.

“Hank’s full of shit,” Gavin replied almost immediately. Nines gave him a pointed look, and he shrugged unabashedly. Everyone at the office knew his opinion of the lieutenant. For the ignorant: it was negative. Very much so. 

Nines sighed, rolling his eyes and turning back to his terminal. He made eye contact with Connor briefly, and his LED promptly turned red. 

“The fuck? No!” he said out loud before starting on his paperwork.  Gavin let out a little laugh. Nines, cursing? That was new. He supposed it had rubbed off somewhat from him, but was that really a bad thing? He was a great guy.

Gavin grimaced at that thought. No, he wasn’t. He was an asshole, and he knew it. 

But was he about to change anything? No, he wasn’t.

“Hey, Nines,” he said, snapping his fingers to bring the android’s attention away from the computer screen.

“Yes, Detective?” he asked calmly, the display of emotion he’d just had wholly gone from his face. He was back to monotone.

“...Thanks for trusting me back there on that chase. It means a lot.”

“Of course.” 

Gavin grunted in reply and looked down again, only to have all his thoughts halted by one last comment from the local office tincan.

“I don’t see why I wouldn’t ever trust you.”


	2. Track 2— Dissonance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will I ever stop writing tense arguments just for drama? ...No.  
> ***TW FOR INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS!*** be safe, everyone!

**July 1, 2039**

 

“Tina,” Gavin spat, “why is he here?”

“Because I invited him,” Tina said coolly, taking another sip of her homemade margarita as she smirked at her friend.

“He is  _ not _ coming into my house!”

“Uh, yeah, he is. Because I invited him in.”

Gavin spun around, leveling a glare at the unexpected guess.

“Well,” Nines asked, doing that ever-irritating slight eyebrow raise that effectively functioned as his only facial expression, “am I welcome here or not?”

“Just come in,” Gavin hissed, flipping Nines a middle finger as he stepped in. He wasn’t wearing his usual uniform jacket, just the long-sleeved black undershirt underneath. It was… form-fitting. Gavin had to stop himself from staring at his surprisingly muscled torso. Why’d they have to make a plastic like that, anyways?   
“Thank you for inviting me, Officer Chen,” Nines said, taking the liberty to take a seat at the kitchen table. Gavin sat next to him, fuming all the while. Tina had it coming to her. What was she thinking, inviting the tincan? Smooth music pumped from Gavin’s speakers, making the atmosphere all the more homey and comforting, like the three of them were longtime friends. They, in fact, were not. Tina and him, sure. Not Nines. Nines hadn’t even been alive long enough to have any “longtime friends”. He wasn’t even sure if Nines had friends.

He couldn’t yell at Tina any more, though. Nines was nothing but an android, and Gavin did take extreme pride in being an asshole, but he had a feeling that any more bitching would piss Tina off. He couldn’t take that risk. The last time he’d pissed Tina off, his entire supply of coffee grounds had been replaced with baby formula. She was a real bitch when she needed to be. And he wasn’t about to lose his caffeine privileges over a fucking plastic.

“So,” Nines piped up, leaning casually on the kitchen counter, “why exactly did you bring me here, Officer Ch-” 

“Tina is fine,” Tina cut in. “I brought you here, uh… to piss Gavin off, really. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Nines replied. “I completely understand.”

Was that the beginnings of a chuckle in his voice? Jesus, it seemed like the entire universe was uniting against Gavin. What had he ever done to anyone?

Oh, right. He was an unapologetic dickwad who stepped on other people to advance himself at every opportunity.

Hey, at least he was self-aware.

Nines stood, going to head over to the side of the counter where Tina was. He picked up the mixing bottle, then took a glance at her cocktail, his LED spinning yellow. Analyzing it, no doubt. It soon shifted back to blue, and he gave the bottle a couple shakes before going off to explore Gavin’s apartment. He didn’t get very far before a streak of brown-and-white tabby fur zipped out from nowhere right between his feet, and he almost tripped. 

“Iggy!” Gavin exclaimed, unable to help a laugh. “Sorry, plastic, she’s… like that.”

Nines looked down at the cat now weaving figure eights between his legs and getting hair all over his pants. Bending down, he picked Iggy up, blinking when she bit into his hand once and then went limp, tail waving languidly back and forth. 

“I didn’t know you had a cat,” Nines said, scratching Iggy behind the ears. Her big amber eyes closed, then opened again in a lazy blink. She yawned, then nuzzled into Nines’ hand, purring. Great. Gavin’s own cat had betrayed him.

“Yeah, well, I do. She’s a piece of shit.”

“I think she’s quite nice.” 

Tina laughed from where she stood, shooting Gavin a practically audible wink. 

Small talk continued for about an hour or so, Nines periodically picking up Iggy and putting her back down. Whatever the little cat wanted at the moment, it seemed. Things were surprisingly pleasant. Gavin himself was more pleasant with an android in the room than he’d been in years.

They laughed, joked. Tina had a few more margaritas, and even let Gavin and Nines try and mix them. Nines had nearly dumped the drink all over the floor, which had sent both humans into fits of laughter. For that hour, Gavin was almost able to forget that he was in the room with both his best friend and his self-proclaimed nemesis. Good music was playing. Gavin’s head was bopping along. Tina looked like she wanted to dance. Detroit noise buzzed outside the window, providing a comfortable ambience. 

They were hanging out. Like friends, all the three of them. 

Then, suddenly, the song playing changed, a recognizable bass riff playing. Gavin frowned. Knights of the Black Death. He hated that band; why was it on his playlist?

Nines set Iggy down and she resumed her looping around his legs, still purring all the while.

“I didn’t know you liked heavy metal,” he commented dryly, casting a cursory glance at the stereo system. 

“I don’t,” Gavin replied. “I hate this song.”

“Understandable. It is very… loud.” Nines’ LED flickered yellow again as he narrowed his eyes just slightly at the speaker. A different song entirely came on. 2010s pop. The sort of shit he listened to in the car.

“Is that better?” Nines asked, not moving from his spot. 

“Did you just hack my fuckin’ speaker?!” Gavin shouted, practically falling off the barstool as he ran over to check for any smoke or sparks coming from his precious stereo system.

“I wirelessly connected to it and changed the song,” Nines replied, suddenly right behind him. His face was the same stoic neutral expression as it always was. Frankly, it creeped Gavin out, but somehow… not as much as before. He’d used to hate Nines, able to find fault in every little thing he did. Now, it was down to most little things.

“Did you damage my speaker?” Gavin demanded, poking a finger into Nines’ chest. Why was his shirt so fucking tight?!

“I made a wireless connection,” Nines said slowly. “I thought you would enjoy this music more than the heavy metal.”

Gavin was ready to start a fight, but refrained. He was about to be the bigger person and step down, but Nines beat him to it and stepped away, going back to his original position on a stool, leaning against the kitchen counter. Iggy clawed her way up, curling up on top of the counter and soaking up all the love both Tina and Nines gave her.

“...Sorry,” Gavin said, frowning. “I forget you’re a supercomputer sometimes.”

Nines let out a breath. It almost sounded like a snort. “I’m not a supercomputer,” he said, drumming the fingers of one hand on the counter. “I’m just an android.”

Gavin could only try and guess what he was feeling. Amusement? Frustration? He didn’t know. Why did he care? He mumbled a response.

“Whatever.”

Tina took out her phone, tapping out a message from it. Soon after, Gavin’s phone buzzed. 

_ glad u two are becoming friends,  _ it read.

“Bitch,” Gavin muttered out loud. “We are not friends, Tina! We aren’t ever going to be friends- is this the real reason you brought him here?!”

“No,” Tina said, tucking one side of her short, neat bob behind her ear. “Like I said, I brought him here to piss you off.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. He knew Tina well enough to tell when she was lying. The hair tuck. A perfect tell.

“You’re shitting me,” he said matter-of-factly, pointing an accusing finger at Nines. “I am not going to be friends with a plastic prick like him!”

Nines did the fucking eyebrow raise again. But he said nothing, his LED shifting yellow for a moment and then back to blue. Tension was building in the room. Tina looked uncomfortable.

Shit, he was ruining things again, wasn’t he? It had been a good night. 

Why did he  _ care? _ Why’d he even let Nines stay this long before flipping his shit and kicking him out? It was about time. 

“Sorry, Nines,” Tina said, trying for a chagrined smile at the android before turning back to Gavin. Her cheeks were a bit flushed; effects of the margarita, Gavin guessed. He was not looking forward to driving her home tonight. 

Tina continued, stepping closer to Gavin to whisper to him and leaving a still deadpan, but seemingly rather confused and awkward Nines sitting there, hand stilled on Iggy’s back. 

“You can’t hate him forever,” Tina said. God, her breath smelled like alcohol.

“Watch me,” Gavin fired back. “I hate androids. You know that, Tina.”

“Stop kidding me, Gav. There’s something between you and Nines, isn’t there? Everyone can see it.”

Gavin’s face flushed red in anger. “There is  _ nothing _ between me and Nines! I only work with him because I have to! You know me, Teen, I wish he’d have drowned in that fucking harbor!”

Both of them fell silent when Nines stood, his LED a steady red. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, sounding resigned. Sad, almost. Almost. His tone was still that usual monotone. Mechanical. Stoic. “I should go. Sorry for… messing up your night.”

“No, Nines,” Tina cut in, trying to grab onto his sleeve as he walked past her towards the door. “Stay! You’re fine!”

Nines pulled his sleeve away. 

“I know I’m not an emotional man,” he said coolly, “but I can sense the atmosphere in the room. My presence here is causing tension. Therefore, I should leave.”

Gavin said nothing. 

Nines opened the door. 

“...Bye,” Tina said, resigned. 

Gavin said nothing.

Nines left, his steady, even footsteps audible all the way down the hallway.

Tina turned on him again. 

“Asshole,” she was saying. “Would it really hurt you to not wish death upon your partner for once? Would it kill you to be a nice guy?!”

Gavin said nothing.

“Listen, I know we’re friends, and I can stand you being a dick, but there’s a line, and you keep crossing it with Nines! I just don’t understand why you hate his guts! What’d he ever do to you?”

“I’ll call you an Uber,” Gavin said, pulling out his phone.

 

—————————

 

And just when Nines was beginning to think that Gavin could be a pleasant presence. 

He opened the door to his small, bare apartment. All white, corporate-painted walls. Not a single piece of furniture, save for a neatly installed charging station. No amenities whatsoever. The heat was off. Air conditioning as well, to save money. He didn’t need it. To a human, these living conditions would be hellish. Nines sat down on the linoleum floor of the kitchen and leaned against the wall. Staring at the ceiling, he took a moment to decipher the mess of emotions he was feeling and found himself… hurt.

His feelings were hurt. By Gavin. 

He didn’t know how to handle that. The emotions triggered a glitched, staticky error message, which Nines quickly deleted off his HUD. But the deletion of a message wasn’t going to make the feelings go away.

He wanted them to go away.

_ //CALLING RK800 #313 248 317-51 _

Connor didn’t pick up. The phone rang several times before a voicemail message cut in. 

“You’ve reached Connor. Sorry, I can’t come to the phone right now. Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!”

“Hey, Con,” Nines said after the beeping tone rang. “I… I need help. Emotional stuff is… getting to me again. I don’t know how to handle it. Please call me back.”

He paused, considering saying something more, but decided against it and ended the call. 

That left him alone to think. About many things. Why hadn’t Connor picked up? Maybe he was on a case, immediate logic stated. Or on a date with his new girlfriend. There were so many things he could be busy doing. 

Or maybe he just didn’t care. That thought remained in the back of his mind, supplanting all other lines of thought whenever he tried to convince himself of some logical answer. 

Connor just didn’t care about Nines or his feelings. He never had. Nines was just a burden to him. He feared him, even. They weren’t brothers, not really, that little ball of thought said. Nines was just an unwanted presence in an otherwise happy family.

And Gavin hated him, too…

But at least he had Tina, he tried to convince himself. 

No, no, the ball of thought insisted. Didn’t you hear her? it asked, almost mockingly. She only invited you to make Gavin mad.

Sumo loves me.

Sumo’s a dog. He loves everyone. You’re not special.

I’m a good detective.

You’re a broken machine who can’t even handle its own feelings.

I’m the most advanced android in the world.

You’re just a fucking deviant.

Nines curled up onto himself, hugging his knees and staring at the ground. He needed to call someone, anyone. He needed to get his thoughts out before they ate him from the inside out, but...  but he couldn’t bother his family. They’d hate him even more for interrupting whatever they were doing. And other than them, he only knew a few other people…

If he was going to call someone who hated him anyways, he might as well talk to the person who was the most honest about it.

_ //CALLING DETECTIVE REED…. _


	3. Track 3—Ostinato

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> case fic time

**July 1, 2039**

 

This was a bad idea. This was such a bad idea. Nines should have hung up before he did anything. Before Reed could even respond—Reed wasn’t going to help him at all. He was only going to get more hostility and hate, but he deserved it, didn’t he? He was awful. 

“Hello?” came the voice from the other side after a couple rings. “Who is this?”

Nines opened his mouth, not sure what to say. 

“It’s Nines,” he said eventually, hands shaking as they sat there clamped around his legs. His whole body was shaking. His voice was so fraught with static it was hard to comprehend. “From work?”

“...What the fuck do you want?” Reed asked, sounding irked. Frustrated. “Did I fuck up a case or something?”

Regret fell hard onto his heart, prompting yet more error messages in his already glitching HUD. Nines took in a breath he didn’t need, gathering courage to reply.

“No, I- I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you, I- I just need to talk to someone, and- I’ll find someone else, I’m sorry.”

“Wait,” Reed cut in before Nines could hang up. “Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s okay,” Nines insisted. “I know you don’t care.”

Reed was silent for a little while. “Damn well I don’t.”

Nines wondered why he’d even called. This wasn’t going to help. So many of his insecurities had been created because of Reed’s hostility. He was the last person he should have called-

“...Are you okay?” Reed asked after a short pause. “You sound, like, panicked or something.”

Nines didn’t reply. 

“Hey, tincan!” Reed insisted. “The fuck is wrong with you?”   
Still, he stayed silent.    
“DAMN IT, NINES!” Reed shouted. “Say something before I come over to wherever you live and kick your a-”   
“You  _ hurt _ me,” Nines said, his voice weak. Why was he saying this? “I don’t know what I ever did to you, Detective… why- why do you want me dead so badly?”

It took a moment for Reed to respond. Perhaps he was just processing the words. Eventually, he could hear the detective take a deep breath, words on the tip of his tongue, but Nines cut in first.

“I-I can’t say I disagree with you, though, I- I am awful, aren’t I? I must be the most fucked-up broken down defective thing you’ve ever encountered in your whole-”   
“Hey.”

“-your whole life, I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry. All I’ve ever done is creep people out I don’t have anyone in my life at all who loves me I just… I’m trying so damn hard but-”

“Nines. Hey.”   
“But- but…” Nines trailed off, his words drowning under error messages permeating his whole system. All he could manage was a soft sob of static, absolutely mechanical and inhuman. 

“Are you crying?”   
“...I can’t cry.”

In truth, Nines was sitting there, curled up in the cold hard corner of his apartment, staring down at the ground, face completely impassive despite the roiling emotion inside him. He couldn’t cry. He couldn’t laugh, either. Or smile, or even frown much beyond a resting bitch face. CyberLife hadn’t seen a purpose to let him make facial expressions. So, they hadn’t designed his face flexible enough to try. 

“Why the hell did you call me to fuckin’  _ vent _ , of all things?” Reed asked. 

“I-I don’t know. I’m sorry, I’m such an annoyance. I just- Detective, I…” 

“Spit it out, tin can.”

Nines took a moment to formulate his next words. He wished he had something to hug just then. A pillow, a stuffed animal, another person, anything. But his apartment was empty. Cold. It was a space for a machine, not a living being.

“Well?” came Reed’s scathing voice again. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Detective Reed, everyone in my life hates me. Connor and Hank just… they hide it out of pity, I know they do. You’re the only one who is honest about it. I don’t want to hear their platitudes anymore.”

Reed was silent for a while, and the two just listened to each others’ breaths; Reed’s steady and calm, Nines’ ragged and heaving. 

“You’re full of shit,” the detective said, breaking the tension that hung in the air, so thick it was practically tangible.

“I know,” Nines blurted, an electronic whine making its way out of his mouth immediately following the words. 

“No, not like that, I… you’re spiraling. Stop it.”

“Spiraling?”

“You’re thinking all this shit about yourself and it’s just making you feel worse and worse.”

Nines was, quite frankly, surprised at how mature Reed was being. No personal jabs, no angry, dismissive remarks. The huge weight on his heart and mind eased. Just a little. Reed continued, voice low and oddly calming. 

“Look, I’m not a damn shrink, but I’ve been through this, okay? You’re lying to yourself and you know it.”

“I’m not-”

“You are. Okay? You’re not fuckin’ broken. People don’t hate you. Hell, I don’t hate you.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I don’t. I don’t like you, but you’ve saved my life like three times and I can’t hate someone who’s done that sort of shit for me.”

Nines was silent. He just listened to Reed go on. Somehow, this obligate asshole’s words comforted him more than he thought Connor’s ever would. 

“You’re a damn good cop, too. Even by android standards, alright?”   
Nines shuddered. “I-”

“Shut up and let me finish, dipshit.”

“You want me dead.”

“Bullshit.”

“You said so yourself! Just about an hour ago!”

“I don’t mean half the things I say, alright? I don’t want you dead. I just don’t want Tina thinking we’re friends.”

Without even realizing it, Nines was feeling better. The static whines and almost modem noises had ceased, and his voice was no longer glitched and full of static. His LED had spun from a wild red to calm, contented blue. He sat up straight against the wall instead of curled into a ball. With Reed’s strangely kind, brutally honest words, the error messages in his HUD had cleared out, leaving him with a clear view of his empty apartment.

He could trust Reed. Even if the human was an ass at the best of times, he wasn’t a liar. He was dependable, even if he stayed up through ungodly hours of the night and sometimes came to work more hungover than Hank, which was a big accomplishment.

“You good now? You’re gonna stop bothering me?” The detective’s question was followed by the slightest chuckle.

“Yes, I’m sorry for interrupting your night. Both in person and over the phone.”

“Whatever. Night, prick.”

“Goodn-” Reed hung up before Nines could even finish saying goodbye.

Somehow, that didn’t hurt his feelings. Reed wasn’t a manufactured man full of false kindness. Connor and Hank weren’t, either, he realized all of a sudden. He really had been spiraling. They’d never done a single thing to suggest that they hated him. 

He was loved.

He had a family.

He had a friend, too.

He had a friend in Reed, even if neither of them would admit it. 

Cheered up, Nines slipped peacefully into stasis, still sitting stiff against the wall.

 

—————————

 

**July 3, 2039**

 

Gavin looked up at the terminator taking his seat across from him, as usual.

“You’re late,” he mumbled.

“I know,” he replied. 

“Later than me.”

“I’m not proud of it.”

They made eye contact, and Gavin grimaced jokingly. “You’re a dick,” he said, rolling his eyes as he looked back down. Nines said nothing in reply pulled up a new case on his terminal, sending it over to Gavin as he read it over. The plastic never did give him the satisfaction of a reaction. 

Gavin opened up the new case as well, though he didn’t have the privilege of taking off his skin and hooking right into the DPD mainframe. Damn androids.

He wondered if it hurt androids to take off their skin. He certainly wouldn’t want to flay himself every time he did paperwork. Even if he could connect his brain to the computer or some shit. What he wouldn’t give to do paperwork in his head.

“Detective Reed, about that phone call…”   
Gavin coughed loudly. Shit, Nines wanted to talk to him about  _ that?  _ He chastised himself for not just hanging up before he had the chance to hear the android out. . “Didn’t happen.”

“No, it- remember? The one from Saturday night?”

Gavin leveled a glare at him. “Didn’t happen, alright?”

Nines frowned just slightly, the LED on his temple turning yellow. If Gavin had to guess his emotions, he was feeling… 

Gavin couldn’t guess. The android was a fuckin’ brick wall.

“I won’t mention it, then,” Nines said. “Just… thank you. I hadn’t expected you to be so…” he paused, seemingly trying to find the right word. He gestured his hand in a circle.

“So soft?” Gavin finished with a huff. 

“I suppose that works.”

“Fuck you.”

 

After a chugged cup of coffee, they set out to the case. A triple homicide, near the Ravendale district. Three humans, read the report. Two women, one man, all between the ages of 30-45 years old. Suspected android involvement. 

The crime scene was a derelict house, dull gray under the cloudy sky, no different from all the rest in the suburb. The pre-android era district of Detroit. Crumbling, coming apart at the seams just like every soul who lived here. A remnant of the wasteland the city had been becoming before Kamski set up that giant tower on Belle-Isle and turned the world straight around.

For the last few months, Gavin had seen almost exclusively homicides with android victims. Dead androids were rather tame; apart from their creepy appearance, there wasn’t much to them. Just a pile of nuts and bolts and plastic components.    
He just wasn’t prepared for the stench of infection and rot that human victims carried. Halting at the threshold, he groaned, plugged his nose, and tried to gulp down the nausea that suddenly racked his body. Streaks of blood were painted everywhere, the walls stained red like a fucking Jackson Pollock. Peeling wallpaper, cloying, decaying, the whole house was a corpse. His stomach protested a violent gurgle, and he turned to the side and hurled up the morning’s coffee into a trash can swarming with flies

God, he really had grown soft since being partnered with Nines. Which was, honestly, the last thing he thought would happen. If the world made sense, being partnered with a cold, unfeeling killing machine would do the exact opposite. But that killing machine had just sobbed to him over the phone the previous weekend, and here he was, vomiting at a crime scene—something he hadn’t done since his rookie detective days.

Fuck.

Fuuuuck.

The bodies were piled up on top of each other, arms dismembered and stitched back together wrong, organs hanging out, blood pooled and painted in giant swirling streaks all over the grimy linoleum floor. Eyes gouged out, hanging by the thin optic nerves, gaping wounds festering and decomposing right there. There were Russian words hastily written all over the walls in a substance that wasn’t quite blood. Gavin felt sick again.

Nines crouched down by the pile of barely human flesh, dipping two fingers into the pool of red beneath the bottom carcass and tasting the blood.    
“The victims’ names are Mikaela Cross, Andrew Solomon, and Victoria Wong,” he reported in a cold, clinical tone. Back on his bullshit, Gavin thought. This smooth, apathetic tone was worlds away from the sobbing mess of stutters and pauses he’d heard over the phone last Saturday. Nines was soft and squishy inside, and Gavin knew it, and Gavin was never going to let the plastic prick live that down.

He typed the names into his tablet, rounding the pile and going to look at the literal writing on the wall. 

“Hey, Nines, what’s this say?” he asked, nodding at the oddly neat Russian characters. The android came up next to him, uncomfortably close, LED flickering yellow as he translated the text.

“Some say ‘Honor Master’, some say ‘Obey Master’, and some say ‘Avenge Master’,” he replied, LED going red for a split second before it returned to blue. “...The font is CyberLife Sans.”

Gavin nodded grimly. “So it’s an-”

“-Android killer,” both detectives said in unison. They exchanged a look, Nines doing that annoying-as-hell eyebrow raise and Gavin sending over his patented death glare.

Nines frowned, glancing from the writing back to the pile of bodies. “Android killings aren’t usually like this,” he said. “Deviants don’t mutilate. The murders are clean, there’s no bloody streaks on the walls yards away from the bodies themselves and there’s certainly no…”

He stepped closer to the bodies, lips quirking into the slightest of grimaces. 

“None of that Frankenstein sort of shit,” Gavin finished, crossing his arms. “Not usually.”

“How were these bodies found?” Nines asked, straightening up and looking away from the pile.

Gavin turned on his tablet, scrolling through the case report. “Someone saw a weird-looking figure dragging something into the house last night. Both figures looked humanoid, and the witness said she thought the one dragging had an LED.”

Nines nodded quietly, heading out to the backyard. “There’s footprints in the mud,” he called back. Gavin ran over, desperate for a whiff of fresh air, any break from that sickening stench. 

Indeed, there were very clear footprints in the mud and grass, forming a trail tracking right into the house, along with a long, large streak of dirt and water that could only have been made by a body being dragged. The prints led right into the house, but there was no set leading out. Gavin left Nines to pore over the back and side yards, heading around to the front to check. 

No footprints, save for their own. 

Gavin frowned, closing his eyes shut in frustration when the realization hit him. The killer was still inside that house. He began back around the side yard, calling out Nines’ name, when he heard it.

A slow, mechanical screech, the whirring of motors, a loud crack and a choked scream, then the sound of hard plastic hitting wet concrete.


	4. Track 4—Decibels

Gavin rushed around the side of the house, gun drawn and ready to fight. 

He was not expecting the sight he saw. 

Nines struggled, pinned underneath another android that wielded a knife, attempting to stab him in the chest. He barely evaded or blocked its strikes. Cuts bled on his arms, though they didn’t seem deep.   
And god, that was the most fucked up android Gavin had ever seen. 

It was torn apart, hands the wrong size for its body and wires spilling out of its split back like worms, sparking and oozing blue blood. Its jaw was unhinged, hanging by a few scraps of metal to the rest of its face. Noises that resembled a broken 90s computer more than a voice rang from its throat, hollow and desperate. And its eyes… god, its eyes. They were pure black, covered with some sort of goo. It looked like someone had put Jello into its eye sockets. 

Gavin aimed his gun, but the two androids were struggling too much. If he shot, it would be so easy to hit Nines instead of his target. His partner had already lost blood. He doubted a gunshot wound would do him any favors.

Muttering a curse, he put his gun away and tackled the android, gritting his teeth as it let out an earsplitting, sudden screech and clawed at his body, hands tearing and ripping at his shirt. Driving an elbow down hard into its arm, he sent the knife skittering across the patio. 

He couldn’t hear anything over the noise; it felt like it penetrated his soul itself and was trying to rip it out, like some sort of dementor. The thing was damn disgusting. From this angle, he could see its lolling tongue, long and blue, like some sort of parasite struggling to find purchase in the mangled jaw.

“Fuck you!” he screamed back, pulling himself out of its grip and casting a glance back at Nines. The android pulled at his ankles, movements weak and jittery. Nevertheless, it managed to bring him down and rolled over, pinning him to the ground. It was heavy, abnormally heavy for its torn-up state. He thought androids were supposed to be light. No matter. Ruminating about the weight of some psychotic plastic wasn’t important at the moment.

Gavin had had his fair share of self-defense lessons, every other Thursday, at the local gym.

Damn class was led by an android.

He spat out another expletive, the moving silhouette of an injured Nines swimming in his peripheral vision.

His ears were ringing. 

He was sure Nines was saying something, but he couldn’t hear shit, courtesy of the local bucket of bolts’ banshee-esque screaming.

Something warm ran down the side of his head.

He didn’t have time to think about whatever the android’s supersonic shit had done to his eardrums. He had to get out from under it.

He jerked one hip upwards, making hard contact with the android’s chassis and forcing it over and upwards just a little. Spitting static, it rolled to one side just enough for him to shove upwards with his arm and land a hard left hook to its cheek. It screamed again, but not before Gavin was able to stand up, grab his gun, and shoot.

_ Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.  _

Four shots to the body, one to the head, and the thing was still. 

Gavin couldn’t hear anything. Trying to stop his body from shaking, he re-holstered his gun, kicked the android just to make sure it was really dead, and turned back to look at Nines.

His partner’s LED was solid red, and he could see his mouth moving as he spoke. 

“I can’t hear shit!” Gavin yelled, barely able to hear his own voice over the loud, constant ring. Something dripped off his right cheek, and he raised a hand to his ear. It was wet.

Bringing his fingers away in front of him, he gulped. Blood.

The thing’s screaming had made his fucking ears bleed. 

Nines said a few more words, but stilled when he noticed the utterly confused look on Gavin’s face. LED spinning red, he showed Gavin his palm. A holographic screen appeared, displaying words in jumbled, glitchy font.

“ARE YOU OKAY?”

“I’m fine,” Gavin spat, rubbing at the side of his head and getting blood everywhere. “Jesus, get to an android hospital or whatever.” He gestured at the cuts and stabs all over Nines’ arms and chest.

“YOU HAVE A RUPTURED RIGHT EARDRUM,” Nines responded. “YOU SHOULD SEEK MEDICAL TREATMENT TO PREVENT COMPLICATIONS.”

Gavin opened his mouth to say something more, but couldn’t get the words out before Nines’ holographic screen corrupted red and disappeared, and he fell onto his knees.

“Fuck,” Gavin said, running to him and checking his pulse before remembering that androids didn’t have the same vital markers as humans did. Standing, he left Nines stiff on his knees as the uniformed officers also there at the scene swarmed in. 

Someone tried to talk to him. He gestured to his ears, flapping his hands around in some rough charade that he hoped would express the fact that he couldn’t hear anyone. He was barely aware of some android officer rushing over to Nines to interface. 

“That’s the murderer,” he shouted, pointing at the dead android-thing on the patio. Looking at it, it was a wonder how it had the delicacy of hand, never mind sanity, to kill three humans, tear them apart and stitch them back together, then turn the entire crime scene into a sight that looked like a child’s red-crayon masterpiece.

The officer he spoke to nodded, going to investigate the thing’s body. Gavin then turned his attention back to Nines, who was holding his head, LED still blaring red, as he was escorted out of the area by the other android. 

Gavin sighed, looking up at the cloudy sky and then wincing as a wave of pain struck his ear. For once, he admitted that Nines was right. He needed to get to a hospital. 

“Do you have it from here?” he asked the officer, gesturing at his injured ear. She said yes; her lips were easy enough to read.

With a mumbled grunt of acknowledgment, Gavin walked out to his car, digging napkins out from the glove box and holding them to his ear to soak up the blood. He looked out to see Nines coming around front, walk cycle disjointed and interrupted, as if he was some early-generation prototype from the 2020s and not the most advanced android in the world.

For a moment, Gavin wondered if he was okay before reminding himself that he wasn’t supposed to give a shit about the android’s well-being. 

_ You’re Gavin Reed,  _ he reminded himself.  _ Incorrigible asshole and android hater. You don’t get to feel bad when a plastic gets hurt. _

Before he drove off to the hospital to get his ear looked at, though, he cast one more glance back at Nines.

First, that panicked phone call, and now this… perhaps Nines wasn’t as tough as he’d first thought. 

He didn’t know what to think of that.

 

—————————

 

_ //THIRIUM 310 LEVEL 85%--DROPPING _

_ //ERROR: AUDITORY INPUT CORRUPTED _

_ //ERROR: LEFT AURAL COMPONENT #6B51 DAMAGED _

_ //ERROR: RIGHT AURAL COMPONENT #7B51 DAMAGED _

 

Nines’ world was a mess of colors and sounds, everything whizzing by in triplicate. Light was too bright, some sounds were too loud while others were too soft, and it felt like he could feel everything. He could barely move; every neural network was too preoccupied with the sensory overload to control his muscles and limbs. 

He could barely process the sight of Reed kneeling down next to him, and his tactile sensors flared with false information when the human touched him. 

When the police officer came over and interfaced with him, it helped clear some of the clouds from his mind, making him just aware enough to stand up and manage to move. Reed was speaking to someone else now, but Nines couldn’t even see well enough to read his lips.

Was this all because of that android’s screaming? He glanced down at its corpse, laying supine on the ground with a bullet hole seeping thirium from its forehead. Jaw lolling open, long tongue almost touching the ground, vocal processor just barely visible. Nines tried to run a scan.

All he got in reward for his efforts was another error message filled with jumbles of code. He felt so tired, every step heavy and difficult, like he was on low battery, but that wasn’t the case. His HUD displayed a percentage of 92%; enough to last him another two weeks before requiring a recharge.

The android officer with him initiated another interface, the words they sent through barely readable under the error messages and static that now made up his vision.

“The technician back at the station will help you. I’m calling a taxi.”

He tried to say something in response, but all that came out of his speakers was a garbled squeak. He tried to send words through the interface, but could only manage a mix of code so jumbled it was nigh impossible to figure out. 

Why was he so broken? He felt like he had a virus of some sort, almost. The inhibition and the broken sensory input reminded him of the one experience he’d had with viruses; last winter, before deviancy. Something designed to mimic the common cold in androids. It had been awful. 

Reed left in his car, hopefully to the hospital. Before the red curtain and earsplitting noise had descended, he’d managed to tell the detective to seek medical help. It wasn’t like Reed was the sort of person to listen to anyone, but it was worth a shot.

The taxi arrived quickly, and Nines did his best to not bleed all over the inside. The android next to him maintained interface the whole ride, just in case his condition got any worse.

 

“You don’t have a virus,” the technician assured as she replaced the fried parts of his auditory components and reinserted them, then ran a script to clear his errors. “The frequency of the scream just scrambled your sensory cortex. It’s not permanent, don’t worry… here. Better?”

Nines looked around. Everything was normal again, HUD smooth, without any glitches beyond those caused by deviancy. 

“Better,” he echoed with a nod. “Thank you.”

Officer Chen was waiting for him outside the door of the technician’s room, a packet of thirium in her hand. She offered it to him as he exited, and he gladly took it, quietly saying a word of thanks. 

He never thought that Reed would step in to save him back there. Especially to the point where he’d ended up injuring himself. As he made his way back to the desk, thirium in hand, Chen followed him.

“Is Gavin here?” she asked. “I didn’t see him come in.”

“No,” Nines replied, pulling up a GPS in his vision that tracked Reed’s phone. He was at the closest hospital. Good. He wasn’t going to get any career-altering ear infections anytime soon.

“He saved me from the criminal we found still lurking at the crime scene,” the android explained, looking in Chen’s general direction but not exactly at her. He found eye contact difficult, especially when speaking to someone he wasn’t around very often. Chen was nice and all, but they simply didn’t talk much. Nines wasn’t a talkative man.

“Saved you?” Chen parroted, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, the criminal… had a knife.” Nines’ voice was quiet, confused. He still hadn’t been able to reach any possible conclusions as to why Reed had saved him. The detective had a penchant for going off on his own and leaving Nines to fight perps off himself, which he could easily do. Still, it was inconvenient for one person, however strong and fast he was, to try and fight off three hardened criminals at once.

He continued trying to explain the situation. “It was an android. It had me pinned, and was trying to stab me… did stab me, actually. The wounds were not bad, the technician fixed them, but I likely wouldn’t be as okay as I am if Detective Reed hadn’t fought it off and shot it.”

“It, huh?” Chen raised an eyebrow. “I never thought one android would call another android ‘it.’”

“I don’t know if you could call it an android, actually,” Nines replied, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “It was… damaged. Badly. Torn apart with parts that didn’t match it, with this modified voice processor that could somehow scream at just the right pitch to disrupt my sensors… I don’t even know if it was sentient.”

Chen hummed in response, quiet for a moment as she pictured the creature in her mind. Then, she clapped a hand down on Nines’ shoulder, letting out a long sigh.

“Look, I don’t think you should be too surprised about Gavin saving you.” She shrugged, looking off to the side. “He’s a dick, but he’s got a heart of gold, believe me. He just hates showing it.”

She paused, taking in a huge breath and exhaling it. “He’s really not so bad… and he cares a lot for the people he doesn’t force himself to hate. Just… give him a chance, alright?”

Nines doubted that Reed would ever be much more than an annoyance and a nuisance to him, a constant reminder that there were people in the world that still hated his entire species. But Chen wasn’t one of those people. Given enough time and effort, he felt that they could have some sort of friendship. He gave an empty nod and a hollow “Alright” before returning to his work. 

As Chen walked off to go out on patrol, Nines felt at his upper arm, where one of the cuts had been. 

He’d have to thank Reed when he got back from the hospital. 

 

—————————

 

“You should be able to return to work right away,” the nurse said as she finished disinfecting Gavin’s ear. “It’ll heal in a few days to a few weeks, tops.”

Gavin nodded, holding a hand over his no longer bleeding ear as he signed the release papers and walked out to the waiting room. He blinked when he saw who was there.

“Hey, Chris,” he greeted dumbly. The officer waved back with an amiable grin.

“Hey, Gavin,” he replied, striding towards Gavin with long steps. He was out of uniform, though his shift couldn’t possibly have ended that long ago.

“What are you here for?”

“Ben and I’re going out for drinks. Figured you might wanna come.”

“Hell, yes, I wanna come.”

Shoving his hands deep into his pockets, Gavin led the way out of the hospital, Chris following behind at a much more relaxed pace. Silence fell between the two men until they were both in Gavin’s car with the engine sputtering out its protests against starting.

“So, what happened to you?” Chris asked, leaning back in the car seat and putting his feet up on the dashboard. Gavin narrowed his eyes at his friend, waving for him to put them down. Chris just flipped him the bird and refused.

“I saved Nines from some screaming android. Busted an eardrum.” Gavin’s reply was clipped, short, almost like he was ashamed of something.

“Saved Nines, huh? Never thought I’d see you sticking up for a plastic.”   
“Me neither.” Gavin paused, faced again with the question of why he’d even stepped in for Nines at all. He pondered for a moment as he pulled out of the hospital parking lot onto the main road, letting out a long sigh before he finally spoke again.

“I mean, he… might’ve been hurt. Killed, even. Thing had a knife. I couldn’t let my partner die.”

“Something’s gotta be alive before it can die,” came Chris’ calm rebuttal. He was being sarcastic, of course; Chris had always supported android rights, ever since Markus had personally spared his life in the midst of the revolution. Gavin had never understood it in the past, but had managed to keep their differing sentiments from tearing apart their friendship.

All that was seeming to change, now. Instead of the snorted ‘yeah, I know,’ he usually gave, Gavin sighed. 

“He  _ is _ alive, Chris. Besides, he’s saved me so many times. I think he deserves the favor returned.”

Chris raised an eyebrow, taking his feet down from the dashboard. He was clearly surprised. Amused, even. 

“Wow, Gavin Reed’s had a change of heart.”

“Me?” Gavin snorted, sneering viciously at his friend as he pulled into the bar, fully intending to get wasted off his shit tonight. “Never.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen. the singer in jolene is clearly gay for her send tweet


End file.
